Category: OM-D secrets

Short descriptions how you can make different settings in your Olympus OM-D camera, which helps you to understand your camera better.

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Customize your AF points

The E-M1X and the E-M1 Mark III do have already a lot of AF layout presets, which are usable in many different situations. Customize your AF points to increase your AF hitting rate. You can adjust them like follows

Customi7e your AF points in the menu

1 In the gear menu select A2 “Target Mode Settings” and open the menu with the arrow right key.

2 You can program and save up to four AF field presets.

3 To be able to select those presets you have to activate them under “Mode Settings”.

You also can watch the following film, which shows step by step how to program your AF fields.

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Fast selection of images

When using a function like continuous shooting mode, ProCapture or Focus Bracketing you get very fast a lot of images. The SD card gets filled up very fast and not every image is needed. The normal way to delete single images is very time consuming and therefore not helpful. Cameras from the E-M1 series have fortunately do have a fast selection of images to easily select many images in a short time.

How fast selection of images work

Rückseite der E-M1X

1. Press the replay button to see the images on the SD card

Topansicht der E-M1 Mark III

2. Use the thumbwheel to switch from the single image view to the thumbnail view.

Topansicht der E-M1 Mark III

3. Select the first image, which you would like to select. Press and hold the movie record button.

Topansicht der E-M1 Mark III

4. Rotate either the forefinger wheel or thumbwheel to select the other images. You can select up to 200 images.

As soon as you have selected the images you can either delete or mark them as protected or share them with OI.share.

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5 Tips to increase battery life

Even so, the modern mirrorless systems nowadays have a decent battery lifetime, that gets you through the day, it can be yours that you get into situations where you must be economical with the remaining energy. I would like to give you a few tips and hand that will enable you to continue working as long as possible.

Tip 1
Use the display not the viewfinder!

Even though the back display of your camera is much bigger than the display in your electronic viewfinder, it needs much less energy. This sounds weird but is logical. The viewfinder has much more pixel and as switching pixels needs energy the viewfinder needs more energy. Besides, the refresh rate of the viewfinder is much higher than the one at the back display. This needs also more energy.

Tip 2
Reduce display brightness!

Once you are using the back display you could optimise the setting. By reducing the brightness of the display you can save additional energy and extend battery life.

Tip 3
Switch of image stabilisation!

Olympus OM-D camera does have fantastic image stabilisation, but to be able to correct movements it needs energy. In case your battery life is at the end you have to decide whether you would still use the image stabilisation or not, but you can shoot some more images.

Tip 4
Switch off Autofocus!

Even though that manual focus in a modern camera is realised by electro motors, you are able to save energy in case you switch off the autofocus. Especially when you are shooting slow-moving object as you just have to set the focus once. The autofocus on the other side is moving the motor every time you half-press the release button. Alternatively, you could use the back button focus method, which uses the AEL/AFL button to activate focus.

Tip 5
Keep your batteries warm!

The capacity of batteries highly depends on the temperature. Working in cold conditions the battery life is much shorter than usual. Therefore I have always one battery close to my body to keep it warm, mostly in my pocket. In case the battery in-camera is dying I can use the one in my pocket.

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Switching from winter to summer time

Every year in spring and autumn we have to switch the clock by one hour. In case you own an Olympus E-M1X, which has a built-in GPS receiver, and you have set-up the automatic time switch, all will be done automatically. If not, you have to do it by yourself. Otherwise, the time in the EXIF data is not the correct capture time. In case you use your smartphone to record GPS data the position in the EXIF data is wrong.

Set time with OI.share

In case you own an OM-D, which can be connected via WiFi with your phone, I recommend connecting it once with Olympus OI.share. If you selected synchronise time in the settings, the time will be adjusted just by that. How this works in detail you see in the movie on the left.

Adjust time manually

In case your camera is not equipped with WiFi or you don’t like to use Olympus OI.share, you have to set the time manually.

Just go to the wrench menu and change the time.

Both methods are quick, but guarantee that the capture time in the EXIF data in your image is correct. This helps you in the end not only if you synchronise GPS data of your smartphone with your camera, but helps you sorting the images as well. It helps a lot when you are searching within your images.

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Transfer images without cable

Apple computers have a lot of advantages. Especially when you are working with images or movies. But since the SD card has been removed, you must have your card reader and in most cases your USB-A to USB-C cable as well, to get your images into your MacBook. But what if you are on a trip and you have forgotten your card reader and/or your cable, and you would like to transfer your images? In case you are lucky somebody can lend you one if not, there is another possibility to transfer your images to your computer from your E-M1 Mark III or E-M1X.

Preparation

In case you haven’t installed Olympus Workspace on your computer yet, download it from the Olympus website for free. You only need the serial number of your camera. Even, if you are not planning to download your image without a cable, it makes sense to install Olympus Workspace, as it is also used to update the firmware of your cameras.


As soon as you have installed the software, start it and activate WiFi on your E-M1 Mark III or E-M1X. As soon as the WiFi is ready the camera show a QR code and the SSID with password.

Connect the computer WiFi with the SSID of your camera and use password to connect. As soon as your computer is connected you can start.

Procedure

To import your images with Olympus Workspace press the little Icons in the upper right corner and select “….”

A window opens, in which you can select the images you would like to import

You can select the location to which the images should be transferred. Besides, you can rename your images and add IPTC information. After your images are transferred, you either could process them with Olympus Workspace or any other post-processing software.

Summary

In case of an emergency, that you have forgotten your card reader and/or your cable to connect your camera to the computer, the possibility to transfer images with WiFi is very helpful. In this case, it is also no problem that you have to connect your computer to your camera network manually and it is not possible to make that automatically. It is handy that you can rename the images direct when you transfer them, this helps to organise your files.